Tennis Europe Junior Tour

Semi-finals set at Tennis Europe Junior Masters

Most of the top seeds advanced without problems on the first day of the Tennis Europe Junior Masters in Reggio Calabria, Italy.

Austria’s Lukas Neumayer produced the day’s main upset, conceding just seven games to second seed Oleksiy Shestakov in the Boys 16 & Under tournament. Top seed Nini Dica (ROU) and #3 Anthony Genov had less trouble, losing just one and three games respectively. Matas Vasilauskas of Lithuania ensured three of the top four seeds would appear in Saturday’s semi-finals, coming back from the brink of defeat to score a three-set win over Benedict Kurz of Germany.

Top seed Carole Monnet of France will face Marketa Panackova of Czech Republic in the girls’ 16 & Under semi-finals as both players came through their first tests with relative ease. Monnet lost just five games to Dorka Szabo of Hungary, while Panackova defeated best friend Aleksandra Jelen of Poland 6-1 6-3. There was a surprise on the other side of the draw as Weronika Baszak of Poland brushed aside second seed Zita Kovacs of Hungary 6-3 6-1. She will next play the winner of Friday’s late match between Caijsa Hennemann (SWE) and Alina Tsyurpalevych (UKR).

In the 14 & under boys’ event, top seeded home hope Luca Nardi came back from the loss of a first set tie break to outlast Mikhail Gorokhov of Russia 6-7(4) 6-2 6-4, to the delight of the centre court crowd. The other seeds also struggled, but progressed. Igor Kudriashov of Russia and Jack Pinnington Jones of Great Britain also both dropped their opening sets on tie breaks before recovering to beat Danilo Raicevic (MNE) and Robert Korelov (RUS) respectively.

In the 14 & Under girls’ event, Elena Karner of Austria upset third seeded Amarissa Toth (HUN) in two tight sets, while third seed Maria Bondarenko of Russia survived the day’s longest match, eventually emerging with a 2-6 7-5 7-6(2) win over Clarine Lerby (NED). In the other side of the draw, top seed Jana Kolodynska (BLR) will face Diana Shnaider (RUS) on Saturday after the pair scored contrasting wins. Kolodynska needed three sets to outlast Romania’s Fatima Keita, while Shnaider lost just five games to Dariya Radulova of Bulgaria.